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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 58 No. 38
DoK declines recycling offer Cameron Orr The District of Kitimat has declined the offer from Multi-Material BC to be given a financial incentive to pick up printed paper and packaging material as part of a province-wide recycling plan. Councillors had until this month to decide whether to accept the program, which would have meant curbside collection of the recyclable, however a lot of questions and unclear costs meant they may have been walking into a lot of financial burdens. “We want to be doing the recycling, I think it’s very important, but under the proposed plan from Multi Material BC, it’s just not worth it,” said councillor Corinne Scott. Multi Material BC is a non-profit group which was formed to implement these recycling changes.It’s part of a province-wide program that shifts the cost of recycling from taxpayers, to the consumers and producers. Communities which already provide curbside garbage collection were offered the opportunity to take part in the program, which goes into action May 19, 2014. For the District it would mean $137,000 to collect the recycling, but the estimate on expenses came out between $195,000 and $200,000. Plus there were a number of requirements that, if not met, would result in hefty fines. Although councillor Mario Feldhoff repeated a conclusion from the City of Prince George that there may have been $2 million in potential fines if certain rules were not followed, MMBC managing director Allen Langdon clarified that MMBC would cap fines at $120,000 and 24 loads. Langdon said there are three main categories for penalties including contamination, labour disruption, and late reporting of services. “It’s important to producers because they are the ones who are funding this program,” Langdon added. “What they say is that ‘we understand we are responsible for our material, but we don’t want to have to pay for a bunch of stuff that isn’t printed paper or packaging.’” Langdon also wants to assure member service providers—the municipalities and private companies who will have to work together to see recycled material through the processing chain—that penalties won’t be given out will-nilly. “There’s a pretty extensive process in A) determining if there is a problem, B) verifying if in fact it is a problem, and C) working with the collector in question, if it’s a local government, in developing a remediation plan to address the issues. If the plan works then I don’t think we have an issue,” he said. Continued on page 2
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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The Kitimat Ice Demons are back on the ice. Above is the team’s first inter-squad game, held at Tamitik Arena on September 12. The season will really start though when the Demons face off against rivals the Terrace River Kings on October 5.
Close to Farrow St. solution Cameron Orr Canada Post has given Kitimat a way to get mail delivery going again on Farrow Street, but there was just one decision left to make on Council’s plate. Door-to-door mail delivery by Canada Post to Farrow Street has been suspended since November 2012 because of a problem of a dog at large which was reportedly being aggressive to mail carriers. Kitimat Council has since adopted new bylaws which give the town more power to deal with dangerous and atlarge dogs, and Canada Post is reportedly pleased with those developments, according to a Kitimat administration report to council. The last step, however, is for Council to assure there will be suitable land for a community mail box (CMB) if one is needed. While one won’t be installed immediately, Canada Post wants one to
be installed in the event the particular problem dog on Farrow Street becomes a problem again for mail carriers. There are two options council considered. One would have Kitimat agree to installing a permanent CMB which, while coming to no cost to the District, would mean that Farrow Street would never get mail delivery again, even if the dog at some point is assured never to be a problem. (If the dog leaves the neighbourhood, for instance.) Council instead opted for plan number 2, to provide space to install a temporary one, which would leave the door open for door-to-door mail delivery again on the street. However the District would take on the cost burden, which, for installation and removal is estimated to be around $10,000. This plan won’t be officially adopted as a contract with Canada Post until
residents on Farrow Street provide their comments and feedback on the proposal. Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Warren Waycheshen said that he speaks with the Humane Society manager multiple times a week and plans are in place to prevent the dog on that street from ever being an issue. “This is something that, through a bunch of unfortunate incidents, just got away from everybody, and that hasn’t happened again,” said Waycheshen. He said the community at large has taken notice and residents are being very cautious about animals on their street now. “It’s really out there in the public now. We’ve had some people call in saying ‘there’s a dog running down my street, I don’t want this to turn into Farrow, come and take a look.’ People are being more vigilant about it,” he said. Continued on page 6
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RCMP Sgt. addresses the ‘rumour mill’ ... page 5